Zefra
"Zefra", known as "Sephira" (セフィラ Sefira) in the OCG, is an archetype consisting of Pendulum Monsters making its debut in Crossed Souls. Each of the members also belongs to another archetype that first appeared in the Series 9 Booster Packs (3 of them from Duelist Alliance, while the other 2 from The Secret Forces/''Booster SP: Tribe Force), except one. Design Duel Terminal Storyline ''With the gathering of Tellarknight Ptolemaeus, Nekroz of Sophia, Dragunity Divine Lance, and Evilswarm Kerykeion inside of El Shaddoll Anoyatyllis in one place, the powers of the Goddess of Rebirth, the power of “creation” and destruction, and the 10 “Cores” were assembled. The aura pulsating from this gathering became the key to starting up the “sefiroth” system, the counterpart to the “qliphoth” system, from within the Naturia Sacred Tree. The holy light emanating from the floating Sacred Tree chose 10 lives from the surface world to transform into the Zefra. This Zefra, just like the Qliphort, is a part of the Sacred Tree’s system. Its original purpose was as a defense system that purged damaging errors to the Sacred Tree, but for this war, in order to purge the anomaly threatening to destroy the planet known as Anoyatyllis, it shared its powers with the surface lifeforms. And so the 10 chosen holy warriors stood against Anoyatyllis which threatened to destroy both the world and the Tree. ... In the face of the god of destruction with its true powers regained, those on the surface could do nothing but await their purgation. With her final, faint sliver of hope, Ptolemaeus released the powers of the 9 Yang Zings she had once materialized to control the Sacred Tree at the “sefiroth” system. That power activated the hidden 11th Zefra of the “sefiroth” system, and re-fused the cores of the 10 Zefra. The 11th Zefra chose Zefracore, who possessed auras of both light and darkness, and completed the fusion with its “Core”. ... The one who stood to face Tierra, Source of Destruction was the protector of the Naturia Sacred Tree, Zefraath. The scale of their battle shook the entire planet, and lasted for one thousand days and one thousand nights. At the dawn of the 1000th day, the forms of Tierra and Zefraath were nowhere to be seen. The only things left were the charred remains of the Sacred Tree, and two Gem-Knights. Etymology "Sephira" is a reference to the Sephiroth, the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah. Appearance Members of this archetype have shining white angelic styled wings with similar pattern and design on their back. The archetype's symbol is a sphere with six-pointed star-shaped outline with the similar design as combined team symbol of the "Gem-Knight" and "Constellar", resembling some sort of a crown. (The symbol can be clearly visible in "Zefra Divine Strike".) These spheres have the same colors as the spheres present in the "Qli" monsters, as well as the glowing canisters of the "Infernoid" monsters. Playing Style A "Zefra" Deck is primarily focused on Pendulum Summons, as all the members of the archetype are Pendulum monsters, while gaining advantage with "Oracle of Zefra" and "Chosen of Zefra". "Zefra" Decks are encouraged – through the effects of "Oracle" as well as the effects of the individual members – to incorporate Synchro, Xyz, Fusion and even Ritual Summons into the Deck, enabling an astounding degree of potential variety. This deck even has the ability to summon "Sophia, Goddess of Rebirth", one of the most difficult monsters in the game to summon (This is fitting, as the Zefra are supposedly the chosen warriors of "Sophia"). The variety of cards and the search power can also provide resources for the Summon of "Tierra, Source of Destruction". The natural reusability of Pendulum Monsters fits well into this strategy, and can enable the player to perform multiple kinds of Summons every turn. "Shaddoll" Fusion Monsters especially thrive in "Zefra" Decks, which incorporate all 6 Attributes and provides 2 "Shaddoll" Main Deck monsters on its own. Each member can also be used in Decks of their secondary archetypes, augmenting their existing strategies with Pendulum Summons. For example, "Zefrasaber, Swordmaster of the Nekroz" can function as a reusable substitute for a Ritual Spell Card when paired with other copies of itself and "Zefraxa, Flame Beast of the Nekroz". In fact, the archetype is designed such that its 10 members form ordered pairs for each of the 5 secondary archetypes ("tellarknight", "Shaddoll", "Ritual Beast", "Nekroz" and "Yang Zing"), with one member having a scale of 7 and the other having a scale of 1. For all of the archetypes mentioned, every single Main Deck monster (with the exception of "Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing", "Pulao, Wind of the Yang Zing" and "Ritual Beast Tamer Lara") falls within these scales, meaning that any (non-Nomi) monster in these archetypes can be Pendulum Summoned using their respective "Zefra" pair. Recently, with the new support released in Maximum Crisis, the Deck was given more search power and aggressiveness, providing the speed, protection and responsiveness this Deck lacked until the recent past. "Zefraath" can now be considered the lynchpin of the strategy, having a Pendulum Effect that changes its own Pendulum Scale while searching a "Zefra" monster in the process, providing resources while also assisting on Pendulum Summons even further. Its Monster Effect enables 2 Pendulum Summons per turn and also Special Summons a "Zefra" from the Deck; at a first glance, this may not seem too powerful, but with the proper set-up, this can pave the way to Synchro, Ritual or Xyz Summons of powerful monsters, by combining the right "Zefra" monsters at the right moment. "Zefra Providence" is a generic search card, but its second effect can be used to protect the Pendulum Spells from being destroyed, and "Zefra War" can destroy an opposing card and can even be activated from the hand. Trivia * This is the second archetype to be based on the Sephiroth, the first being the "Timelords". * "Zefraath" is the first and currently the only Pendulum Main Deck Monster that cannot be Pendulum Summoned. Category:TCG and OCG archetypes